Mark from Newport News, Virginia, says his mother, who grew up in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, often used a puzzling phrase. To ask how close he was to completing a task, she’d say what sounded like How much do you like? In parts of the Southern United States lack is pronounced to sound as like does in much of the rest of the country. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “How Much Do You Like?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Mark Newkup from Newport News, Virginia.
Well, hello, Mark. Welcome to the show.
Hi, Mark.
What’s up?
Hi. I’m calling about something that I learned from my mom, but when I use it around work, my coworkers get confused.
So I was hoping that y’all could provide some insight.
We all can.
We’ll try.
The phrase is one that my mother would use when she was in particular talking to us kids, my siblings.
If we had finished our homework, she wanted to know, how much do you like in the sense of how
Much more do you have to go before you’ve finished your homework? And over the years, I’ve used it
And never really noticed, you know, people giving me funny looks. But as I used it with my co-workers
On a more frequent basis, they commented on it. And I said, you know, I didn’t actually know
Where that came from. I asked my mother about it. And she said that was just something that,
You know, they said where she was from. And where is she from?
She’s from a small farming community called Fancy Farm in western Kentucky.
Oh, yeah, Fancy Farm, where the big picnic is every year, right?
Exactly.
That large picnic also is a family reunion for her side of the family.
How interesting.
Mark, did you know I grew up in Kentucky?
I did not know that.
I did, and you’re taking me back to fourth grade.
My teacher, Lutetia Sinton, who seemed so tall to me at the time. I guess she wasn’t, but she seemed
So tall and she had this flaming red hair down to her shoulders. And I remember writing a book
Report and I was taking a long time, which anybody who has ever edited me knows that
That I take a long time to write. And she asked me if I had finished it. And I said, no, I haven’t
I finished my book report, and she said, how much do you like?
And I thought, well, I kind of liked the book, but I was completely confused.
But it’s the same thing.
Like in that case is simply another pronunciation of the word lack.
How much do you lack?
How much more do you have to go?
L-A-C-K, lack.
L-A-C-K, but it’s pronounced in the South and South Midlands often as like.
Oh, yeah, so it’s throughout the South, right?
Yeah.
Texas all the way up through.
Yeah, so you might say it liked two minutes to 10.
It was two minutes before 10 o’clock.
And people will spell it L-I-K-E, but what they mean is lack.
That is really neat, and I definitely never heard that as even a possible origin.
Would that be something that shows up in, say, Southern literature?
Is that something I can be looking for?
William Faulkner.
Oh, excellent.
Yeah.
So you’re keeping good company on that one.
Although I’ve got to say, in the workplace, if folks aren’t getting it,
You might want to switch it up and just say lack instead of like.
I think I may do that and see what happens.
Although they’d still likely give you the side eye.
Well, yeah.
Mark, thank you so much for calling.
We appreciate it.
And give us another call sometime, all right?
I will.
Thank you very much.
Take care.
I appreciate it.
Bye-bye.
Take care.
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Re. “How Much Do You Like?” (where “like” means “lack”), This is a usage that was common among my Texas grandparents (born in Texas in the 1910s). Their parents were places like Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee. One usage I recall hearing them say is using “Iiked to” to mean “almost”. I’d hear them tell stories like “I was so embarrassed about that, but they liked to never let me forget about it”. I think the “like to never” meant it FINALLY happened, but it was very difficult to do.